Improved process of making soap



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

OAMPBELIJ MORFIT, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVED PROCESS OF MAKING SOAP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19,667, dated March 16, 1858.

To all whom it may cone-cm:

Be it known that I, CAMPBELL MORFIT, chemist, of Baltimore city and county, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Method of Manufacturing Toilet and Laundry Soaps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of it.

The advantage obtained by my process is the production of soaps of maximum quality as to grades with a great economy of labor and time. The ratio of superiority over the soaps of corresponding price is maintained throughout all the grades, and equals in cleansingpower thirty per cent, independent of other desirable qualities which my soaps possess in an unusual degree of eminence. By virtue of these qualities it wastes slowly in the water, gives a rich lather, and whitens the clothes. Moreover, it is always uniform in appearance and composition, and does not shrink or deteriorate by time and atmospheric influences.

My invention consists in the use of powdered carbonate of soda inany and all of its chemical and commercial forms and conditionsas barilla, kelp, trona, sal-soda, soda-ash, bicarbonate of soda, &c.for saponifyin g the fatty acids generally, and more particularly the red oil or red (oleic) acid oil, as it is sometimes called, obtained in the manufacture of adamantine and star candle stock, whether alone or admixed with rosin, and converting them, by direct combination, into soap in open pans or kettles, at temperatures between 32 and 500 Fahrenheits thermometer.

The first step in my process is to provide an open pan with fire beneath, or, preferably, a tub and steam-twirl similar to that patented by me on 29th July, 1856. This having been done, red oil or other fatty acid is then poured into the kettle to the depth of one-third of its capacity, and agitated and heated by setting the twirl in operation. As soon as the oil has become hot, and if itis desired to make a grade of soap lower than toilet-soap, then rosin is to be added in small lumps. The proportion of rosin may range from live per cent. of the fatacid used and upward, according to the quality of soap it may be desired to make. My aim is always to restrict it to the lowest possible quantity consistent with a fair profit. When, after continued heating and stirring, the rosin becomes entirely dissolved, carbonated alkali finely powdered is to be added proportionwise to the homogeneous mixture of fat and rosin, while the twirl is kept slowly revolving. When, after continued heating and stirring, all the alkali is in and the intumescence has subsided, the paste will begin to thicken and promptly assume the condition of soap. At this stage it is to be shoveled out into frames, and there left to set and cool preparatory to being out into bars and blocks, in the usual manner of cooling and cutting soap.

The quantity of carbonated alkali which I use varies with the kind employed and the grade of soap it is intended to make; but in allcases for neutral soaps it should only slightly exceed the chemical equivalent proportion, and must be determined by calculation from the combining number of the fat-acid which constitutes the stock. For strong soaps the quantity may beincreased several per cent. beyond that proportion.

As the requisite amount of constitutional water of the soap is supplied in my process exclusively by the water of crystallization or of accident of the alkali, it is to be remarked that in the use of sal-soda alone the quantity necessary to accomplish perfect saponification would introduce an excess of water, and thus render the paste soft and slow to set and dry. To obviate this, therefore, I equalize and adjust the amount of water for the soap under process by using a proper portion of the sal-soda in a lesser state of hydration, and to which lesser state of hydration I reduce it by previousl y subjecting it to air-currents or the action of a centrifugal mill or else I substitute for the latter a corresponding portion of dry sodaash. in either case the requisite proportion of dry sal-soda or soda-ash must be determined by calculation from the amount of normal salsoda employed. It is to be observed that when two conditions of alkali are used they must be added to the fatty mixture separately for the higher grades of soda, and in all cases that which contains most water should go in first. In the lower grades of soap they may be added separately or together, according to the judgment and experience of the operator. For the toilet-soap rosin is omitted.

The relative proportions of fat, rosin, and al kali and water being adjusted at the beginning, there is no waste lye or other residue, and my soap comes out promptly and in greater perfection than can be readily obtained by the converting them into toilet and laundry soaps, usual methodofboiling soap upon caustic lyes. in the manner substantially as set forth in the What I claim, and desire to secure by Letspecification. ters Patent, is-

The saponification of red oil or red-acid oil CAMPBELL MORFIT' and fat-acids generally by means of powdered *itnesses: or dry carbonates of soda-as kelp, tron-a, sal- E. A. DALRYMPLE, soda, soda-ash, bicarbonate of soda, &o.-and Enwn. G. STAN. 

